U.S. Marshals . Tucson Weekly . 03-16-98

U.S. Marshals

DIRECTED BY: Stuart Baird

REVIEWED: 03-16-98

In Hollywood, if a sequel only brings back half of the original's stars, it's called a "spin off." If it brings back half the original's stars and none of its suspense, it's called U.S. Marshals. Tommy Lee Jones stars as the same squinty, no-bullshit character he played in The Fugitive. But because Harrison Ford was busy working on a movie about a president armed only with a bullwhip who commandeers a spacecraft in order to save an Amish community from IRA assassins, now Wesley Snipes is the dude on the run. After a big, noisy plane crash, Snipes escapes and soon enters the Phonebooth of Expository Dialogue, where we learn: (1) He's innocent; (2) he has top-secret info and is wanted dead; and (3) he's not nearly as fun to root for as Ford. Then Robert Downey, Jr. shows up as a federal agent with no sense of humor, and you know what that means--he's the dreaded two-armed man! As for poor Jones, he tries hard, but needs more to work with than the jumble of suitcase trades, gun switches and likable- good- guys- who- look- like- Judge- Reinhold- so- you- know- they're- dead- meat that the film supplies. As a result, U.S. Marshals maintains the peculiar distinction of being impossible to follow yet completely predictable.

--Woodruff

Full Length Reviews
U.S. Marshals
U.S. Marshals
U.S. Marshals

Capsule Reviews
U.S. Marshals

Other Films by Stuart Baird
Executive Decision

Film Vault Suggested Links
The Bone Collector
The Phantom
Smilla's Sense of Snow

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